Alaska: Big state; small world

Martin Griff / The Times of TrentonMegan Cross brought her smile from New Jersey to the front desk of the Ayleska Hotel in Girdwood, Alaska.

I rang the bell on the front desk at Alyseka Resort Hotel, 40 miles south of Anchorage, Alaska in search of night shift receptionist Megan Cross. A joke among my snowsport journalist buddies is that I'm always looking for a Jersey angle for my ramblings, and often stretch boundaries to fine one.

A fellow scribe, keeping her eye out for a Jersey connection, found one driving the shuttle bus around Girdwood, the town that Alyeska calls home. The driver, Bill Stahlin grew up in Ewing, N.J. a town north of Trenton along the Delaware River and the place I now call home. Bill and I talked as he made his pickups and drop offs - I'll ramble on about him soon. Bill mentioned that the night desk person at Alyeska, Megan Cross, is from Pennington, a town about 5 miles north of Ewing.

The named sounded familiar, but the brain kept going to the red-haired actress in Desperate Housewives. A little post-Alaska Googling revealed that her name is Marcia Cross.

When Megan Cross came to the front desk, her smile lit up the lobby. I knew that face. And I knew that smile. It was the smile of her mother Bambe Cross.

In the early 1990s, I met Bambe during the 500 mile Anchor House Ride for Runaways, an annual charity bike ride to benefit a Trenton based shelter for runaway and abused children. It was the first ride for both of us and neither of us trained enough. We spent a lot of time huffing and puffing at the tail end of the ride.

The next year Bambe trained hard, rode with stronger cyclists and because of the smile, a friendly disposition and a willingness to help out fellow riders, she became one of the most popular participants on the ride.

Bambe didn't just support troubled kids by pedaling and raising money each summer. She worked at The Anchorage, a transitional living facility for homeless youths aged 17-21, and counseled students at Trenton High -``Bambe's Kids'' they were called.

In May of 1999, while training on her bike for her seventh consecutive Anchor House ride, Bambe was struck and killed by a drunken driver. She was 32. Megan was 13. Bambe also left two young sons.

Martin Griff / The Times of TrentonSupport staff member Megan Cross gets ready leave the Rockvale Inn in Lancaster, PA. on Friday, July 15, 2005, the sixth day of the 27th annual Anchor House Ride for Runaways Anchor House is a Trenton based multi-service agency for runaway, homeless, abused, and at-risk youth and their families.

Megan graduated from Hopewell Valley Central High School. She participated in the Anchor House Ride as a member of the support staff in 2005. I was along taking photos of the ride for the Times of Trenton and took her picture.

The next year she rode the 500 miles in memory of her mother.

In 2007 she graduated from Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J. with a degree in Psychology.

Megan found a job in Alaska at a vacation company though Craig's List. She moved on to a job at the Alyeska Hotel where she works the 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. shift 4 days a week. She lives in a hostel with 12 roommates and gets to snowboard at Alyeska about three times a week.

"I just love it here," she explained. "In the summer there's fishing, camping and hiking, We go out at midnight and it's still light out. It's definitely a place you have to visit. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been to."

Megan said the best time to come to Alyeska for skiing and snowboarding is April and May.

If you take her advice this year you'll miss her. At the end of the month she's taking that smile to Ecuador to do volunteer work for six months. Her mother would be proud.